CHAPTER TWO;

VISITING GATLIN:



It didn't take quite as long to get to Gatlin as her dreams had made it out to be. Alley stopped along the side of the road, and got out of her car. The feeling began to grow deeper. She stared at the cornfield for a moment, before finally entering. She walked through the looming stocks, fear gripping at her nerves. She stopped for a moment to decide which direction to go. She finally took a right. And then she took a left, then another right. She stopped at a spot her gut told her to. She dropped to her knees, and began to dig like her life depended on it. Finally, her hands hit something. "A book!"

She pried it out of the ground, and then dusted it off. She smiled at her triumph.

"I came here for you, didn't I?"

She turned the book from front to back, then side to side.

"Now what, oh spiritual ones? Do I open it?"

Suddenly, as if reacting to her words, the book flew out of her grasp, and hit the ground. It began opening itself. When it finally stopped, Alley knelt down beside it. She studied the page carefully, the gawked at it in amazement, and shock.

"Gatlin Cemetery?! Dig people up?! Read a chant?! Who wrote this creepy stuff?!"

There was that feeling again, and it wasn't going to leave her alone until she finished this.

"Oh! All right, oh spiritual ones, I'll do it. I hope there's a good reason for this. I hope that Gatlin place has a hardware store."



After paying a visit to the hardware store, which was being ran at the moment by a creepy teenage boy, she headed to the cemetery. Gatlin Cemetery was even creepier than the town. She felt eyes all over her, as she entered. She'd look behind her every now, and then to make sure no one was there. She walked through the cemetery, shovel, and book in hand. When she got pretty far inside, she stopped and opened the book to the page she had marked. "Micah Balding's grave first. Then Ezekiel Williams."

She walked down the long rows of headstones searching for the name in the book. When she had found it, she knelt down beside of it, and read the inscription.

"Born 1975. died 1992. he was only seventeen years old. A year younger than me. Horrible. Well, buddy, I hate to break this to ya, but. for some reason, this lunatic book wants you dug up, and I'm not going to see any peace until I do it."

She glanced at the headstone beside of his, and smiled. Ezekiel Williams' grave was right beside of Micah's. She got to her feet, and began her work. By the time she had finished with both graves, night had fallen. She was dirty, sweaty, and very tired, but despite that, her feeling wouldn't let her sit down, and rest.

"Done digging, now. it say's 'open the caskets so that the remains of each boy are revealed. Don't touch the remains after the caskets are opened. Read the chant, as it is written, to finish your task.' Wait a minute. Open the caskets?"

She sighed, tiredly, then jumped down into Micah's grave. Using the end of the shovel, she pried open his pine box of a casket. The horrible smell attacked her nose, and made her gag. She wasted no more time getting out of Micah's grave. She peered down inside one last time.

"Not much left of you, is there, buddy? Oh, well. To the other one."

She jumped down in Ezekiel's grave, and pried open his pine box of a casket, then hurried out of his grave, as the same smell filled the air from his rotten decayed corps.

"Now. the chant." She took a deep breath. "Oh, innocent ones who he has done wrong against! Take thy flesh forms, and live again!"

She looked around her in the dark cemetery. There was that feeling of eyes on her again. But there was no one there. She suddenly felt embarrassed.

"How corny can you get! What a chant! Who came up with this sh."

Suddenly, the clouds above began to shift quickly. Lightening filled the sky, and thunder crashed. Suddenly, two lightening bolts hit the two graves, making them explode. The force of the explosion threw Alley back. She sat up, and stared at the graves for a moment. Then she got to her feet, and ran. She glanced behind her to make sure someone, or something wasn't following her. She bumped into someone, and stumbled back. It was like hitting a brick wall. She looked up at the young man.

"Why are you here?"

Alley didn't know how to answer that. She couldn't just tell him she was.

"Digging up the dead?"

"Huh?!" she asked, startled.

"Don't lie to me, Alley. I already know."

"How do."

"I know your name? That's an easy one. You've been having dreams about me."

She didn't recognize him as the two boys who told her about the book, so that must mean he's.

"I warned you not to do this. Now I'm going to have to kill you. I wanted those two to stay dead, or I wouldn't have caused their deaths. Do you understand what I mean?"

She backed away.

"You see, only the good, and pure can touch the book. So I couldn't touch it to destroy it. And while you were holding the book, I couldn't hurt you, either. That's why you got to finish! I knew I should've dealt with you a long time ago! But no! I was kind of attrackted to ya." He grinned. "Anyway, now you've used it, the books power is used, so now it's gone, and those bozo's are back! All thanks to you, and my delay! There's no way I can reverse it. I'll just have to ice um again, along with you."

He stepped toward her. "Y-you stay away from me."

Suddenly a rock came hurdling toward them, smacking the boy right in his head. Alley gawked in wide wonder. He turned his back to her to see who had thrown it. Another came his way. He tried to dodge this one, but didn't move in time. It got him right in the chest. Alley took this as her cue to run. She didn't stop until she had reached her car. She jerked open the door, got in, and slammed it shut. She was about to put the key in the ignition when the back doors opened and slammed shut as well. She looked in the back, and saw two boys. She was about to scream. "No! Less screaming, and more driving!"

"Go! It's us, or him!"

She turned her back to them. Her hands were shaking, but he got the key in the ignition. She turned it, and then sped out of the cemetery, and toward the Gatlin exit.

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